Hindustan Zinc Q1 net surges 68% at Rs 1,495 cr

Hindustan Zinc, a Vedanta Group company, today reported a 67.79% growth in its net profit at Rs 1,494.91 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2011, riding on high zinc and silver prices.

The company had reported a net profit of Rs 890.92 crore during the same period a year ago.

Net sales of the company during the quarter under review also went up by 44.62% at Rs 2,821.35 crore vis-a-vis Rs 1950.77 crore reported in Q1 of FY11, it said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Income from sales of refined zinc rose by about 31% at Rs 2,104 crore during April-June quarter, while refined silver sales contributed Rs 228 crore to the company, it said in a separate statement.

It added that income from refined lead was Rs 255 crore during the quarter.

The average price realisations for the company were 11.49% higher at $2,250 per tonne for zinc during the quarter on the London Metal Exchange, while for lead, it was over 31% higher prices at $2,550 per tonne.

Moreover, the company's refined zinc production also increased by 17% at 1,93,000 tonne during the April-June quarter, the statement said, adding that its refined lead production went up by 6% at 16,000 tonne.

Hindustan Zinc's silver production also increased by 8% at 47,000 kg during the quarter.

Its expenses also rose by about 31% in the Q1 of the current fiscal at Rs 1,389.30 crore as compared to Rs 1,060.70 crore reported during the same period of FY'11.

The statement further said that the Rajasthan-based company had started commissioning 1,00,000 tonne per annum lead smelter capacity at Dariba, which will feed its 350 tonne silver refinery.

The company, which has cash reserves of Rs 15,720 crore as on June 30, 2011, is also expecting to complete its wind power generation capacity to 273 MW by September, the statement added.

Shares of the company today closed at Rs 138.20 apiece on the BSE, up 0.69% from the previous close.